Feeling the Vibe: Relations and Praxes of a Black Sense of Place in Oakland, California

Abstract

AbstractBlack artists, activists, and residents describe their sense of place as part of efforts to claim community space in the midst of racialised dispossession in Oakland, California. “Vibe” is a term used to describe this relationship. The author explains the term by drawing on ethnographic and archival data from research conducted in Oakland between 2019 and 2020. This paper explores vibe as the means by which black life is emotionally, relationally, and geographically made possible in the midst of structural racial violence. The author breaks vibe down into three modalities, or structures of relation, through which vibe is commonly evoked: hustle, care, and openness. These forms of relation are unpacked using the story of one local Black business owner. Vibe, thus, is more than a description, but an expression of relation that is politically, culturally, and economically central to Black geographic imaginaries and struggles.